9,000
end users trained for Epic across 383 departments and more than 190 locations
Inspira Health moved from Oracle Millennium to Epic in 19 months. David Mills, who leads the health system’s project management office, told Healthcare IT News how the people side of the switch came together, and e4health was one of the partners he credited.
Why it matters
An EHR switch is a people project that happens to involve technology. The platform works; the open question is whether thousands of people, their workflows, and their leaders are ready on day one and supported after it.
Inspira’s answer: a project management office that changed shape as go-live approached, a deliberate split between what the health system owned and what partners delivered, and a refusal to call go-live the finish line.
What Inspira Health learned
It was not an IT project
Mills calls it an organizational transformation. Clinical, operational, revenue cycle, and technical teams stayed engaged from planning through stabilization, and he credits that cross-functional collaboration as one of the main catalysts for success.
The PMO had to change shape
Inspira had a proven project management methodology and had to fold it into the Epic structure, which meant trusting the Epic process. As go-live approached, the office shifted from planning and governance to operational readiness: integrated testing, technical dress rehearsals, cutover planning, command center preparation, and training readiness.
Protect the people doing the work
Inspira was methodical about who filled each role. Mills’ job became removing barriers, blocking distractions, and communicating clearly so project managers could stay focused on execution. The hardest part, he says, was protecting them from the pressures of the process over an extended period.
Adopt the standard and hold the line
Inspira adopted Epic’s standard workflows wherever possible instead of recreating the old system, guided by nine principles that kept everyone focused during go-live. Super users, at-the-elbow support, command centers, office hours, and visible leadership carried staff through the transition.
Go-live is the starting line
Falling ticket counts do not mean people are happy or efficient. Looking back, Mills would have expanded post-live education and optimization sooner and spent more time gathering feedback directly from physicians, nurses, and frontline staff.
“This wasn’t an IT project; it was an organizational transformation.”
David Mills, director, project management office, Inspira Health, speaking with Healthcare IT News
Where Inspira stands
Inspira did not declare victory on day one. The project management office moved through four phases, and the health system is still working the last one.
Planning and governance
Project planning, risk management, executive reporting, and alignment across hundreds of stakeholders.
Operational readiness
Integrated testing, dress rehearsals, cutover planning, and command center preparation.
Go-live
Super users, at-the-elbow support, command centers, and office hours kept patient care moving.
Stabilization and optimization
Where Inspira is now, and where Mills says the real value is realized.
Outside expertise, internal ownership
Inspira employed 10 project managers and onboarded 10 more from partners, including e4health, for application, technical, cross-application support, and readiness work. Mills says they quickly melded into the teams to become one. The division of labor was deliberate.
Inspira kept
Strategic decisions
Organizational change management
Leadership engagement
Governance
Operational relationships
Partners, including e4health, delivered
Epic-specific implementation expertise
Data conversion
Additional capacity
Readiness support
Testing coordination
Training
Technical execution
Read the full interview on Healthcare IT News
How Inspira Health managed the people behind its switch to Epic
Our take
Inspira’s playbook matches what works across the 400+ health systems e4health serves.
Staff the transition like a program, not a project. Inspira doubled its project management bench with partner-supplied talent for application, technical, and readiness work. The right partner shows up as capacity that melds into your team, not as another vendor to manage.
Keep ownership inside the house. Strategy, change management, governance, and leadership engagement stayed with Inspira while partners executed. That split is what keeps a go-live from becoming someone else’s system.
Budget past go-live. Post-live education and optimization is where frustration surfaces and value gets realized. Plan and fund it before day one, and measure it with frontline feedback, not just ticket counts.
e4health was one of the partners Inspira brought in to add capacity and support end users through go-live. We support health systems before, during, and after Epic migrations, from legacy system support and clinical data abstraction to eMPI cleanup and IT testing.
Meet us at CHIME Fall Forum
The e4health team will be there this November. If an EHR transition is on your roadmap, come find us and compare notes.